By : Eugenia Asumedu-Sakyi
The Mental Health Alliance has decried the exclusion of mental health patients from the national Covid-19 vaccination programme as well as other social protection mechanisms.
Speaking to GBC News ahead of the commemoration of World Mental Health Day on October 10, 2021, Secretary of the group for the middle belt, Christopher Dapaah, appealed to the government to address this concern urgently together with other teething challenges confronting Ghana’s Mental Health sector.
He said topmost of these challenges is the delay in constituting a new Governing Board for the Mental Health Authority, 10 months into the year.
The Mental Health Alliance fears that any further delay in constituting a new Board will negatively affect the successful implementation of the National Mental Health Policy and the momentum gained by mental health advocates in advancing its development in Ghana.
Without a functioning Board, the Mental Health Alliance is convinced that it will be difficult for the Mental Health Authority to mobilize the resources it requires to operate effectively.
Mr. Dapaah also suggested the incorporation of basic aspects of mental health into the educational curriculum to check the spate of mental health cases such as suicide in the country.
